Pneumatic thread holder for weft replenishing looms



Aug. 25, 1953 v R. F.-DI ON I 2,649,866

V PNEUMATIC THREAD HOLDER vFOR WEFT-REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Jan. 10, 1952 FIG. I.

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at difierent angles toward the thread holder.

Patented Aug. 25, 1953 PNEUMATIC THREAD HOLDER FOR WEFT REPLENISHlNG LOOMS Raymond F. Dion, Leominster, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 10, 1952, Serial No. 265,806

Claims.

This invention relates to thread holders for weft ends extending from bobbins in the magazine of a weft replenishing loom and it is the general object of the invention to provide a pneumatic thread holder of simple construction made in such manner that the weft ends can be readily threaded into it,

Weft replenishing looms of the bobbin changing type ordinarily employ some form of magazine holding reserve bobbins provided with weft ends or threads which extend to a thread holder. The thread holder is for the purpose of holding the threads taut so that they will be above the lay and'not be broken by the latter, and also for the purpose of assisting the self-threading operation of the shuttle on the first pick of the shuttle after a bobbin changing operation. Furthermore, it is desirable where possible to have the thread holder so constructed that it will remove the thread of afreshly transferred bobbin when the thread is cut at the selvage on some beat of the loom subsequent to that on which weft replenishment occurs.

In a type of magazine which has gone into general use on multicolor weft replenishing looms the bobbins are arranged in vertical stacks and the threads from the bobbins extend downwardly It is an important object of the present invention to provide a pneumatic thread holder so constructed that it has a thread passage through which the weft ends of the highest bobbins in the magazine may pass in a more or less straight line to facilitate their entry into the thread passage. In this connection it is a further object of the invention to provide the aforesaid passage with an intake mouth the top of which will be spaced above the weft end extending from the highest bobbin in the magazine.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a pneumatic thread holder with a baflle or deflector adjacent to the discharge end of the thread passage located to break the force of the jet of air passing through the passage and provided with a thread slot by means of which the weft ends can be introduced into the thread passage. This feature of the invention contemplates a deflector curved outwardly and downwardly and the thread slot will extend throughout the length of the baflie and be continuous with a thread slot formed in the thread holder above the air and thread passage.

The invention to be set forth hereinafter is somewhat similar to that shown in my copending application Serial No. 261,867, filed December 15,

2 1951, but the present invention represents certain improvements over the thread holder shown in that application.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of part of a bobbin changing weft replenishing loom having the invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 33, Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4, Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a detailed horizontal section on line 5-5, Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of the magazine and thread holder showing two groups of weft ends leading from bobbins in the magazine to the thread holder, and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic plan view of the thread holder illustrating the manner in which a weft end can be introduced into the thread holder.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the loom frame 1 is provided with a lay 2 which is reciprocated backwardly and forwardly in usual manner and operates with a shuttle S which is actuated by picking mechanism 3. When the invention is applied to a multicolor weft replenishing loom the shuttle shown in Fig. 1 will be only one of two or more shuttles which will ordinarily be in action one at a time.

The loom supports a magazine M having reserve bobbins from which weft ends extend to a thread holder designated herein generally at H. The particular magazine illustrated is of known type in which the reserve bobbins are held in vertical stacks, four stacks being illustrated in Fig. 6. Fresh bobbins are inserted into the magazine at the top thereof and the bobbins feed downwardly by gravity as bobbin changing operations remove the low bobbins in the magazine. The Weft ends are arranged in front and back groups WI and W2, respectively, see Fig. 6, group WI leading from forward bobbin stacks BI and B2, and group W2 leading from rear stacks B3 and B4. The magazine includes in its construction a tie rod 4 to which a downwardly and outwardly extending arm 5 is secured.

Except for the thread holder the matter thus far described may be of usual construction and operate in ordinary manner,

A support 6 is secured by bolt 1 to arm 5 and has a forwardly extending arm 8 on which is mounted a carrier 9 of inverted U-shaped form as shown in Fig. 3. The carrier may be made of sheet metal and has vertical arms I!) and II through which extends a bolt [2 by means of which the carrier is secured to the arm 8. Mounted on top of the carrier is a hollow thread holder member i5 having a floor or base l6 which is secured to the carrier in any approved manner, as by welding. Member l5, which may be made of metal tubing, has a top H and front and back side walls It and I9, respectively, see Fig. 4.

The base, top and side walls of member i5 define an air and thread passage 2! which extends generally in a horizontal direction toward and from the magazine as will be apparent from Fig. 1, and intermediate the front stacks Bi and B2 and the rear stacks B3 and B6, see Fig. 6. The passage has an intake mouth 2| adjacent to the magazine and a discharge mouth 22 at the end thereof remote from the magazine. The top ll is provided with a longitudinally extending thread slot 25 which opens downwardly into passage 2t and has its left end as viewed in Fig. 2 opening into the upper end of the intake mouth 2|.

An injector tube T is supported by the arms In and ii and has a discharge mouth 26 which as shown in Fig. 4 is elongated vertically and is located intermediate the front and back walls l8 and IS. The tube T is pneumatically connected to a hose or the like 2? which is connected to a source of compressed air (not shown) operating during the running of the loom to cause a jet or stream of air to issue from the mouth 26 in a direction away from the magazine and through the passage 263 between the i walls I8 and I9 and the two groups W and W2 of weft ends in the passage 29 to hold the weft ends taut and to remove any weft end when it is cut at the cloth selvage subsequent to a bobbin changing operation.

Much of the matter thus far described has been set for the purpose of understanding the present invention and is similar to the thread holder shown in the aforesaid copending application, and. is not claimed herein.

The present invention has more particular ref ference to the intake mouth 25 and an air and thread baffle or deflector. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the intake mouth is defined at its bottom by the base l6 and at its top by an edge 30 formed in that end of the top 51 of the member |5 adjacent to the magazine. The intake mouth is also defined by front and back side edges 3| and 32, respectively, which are inclined downwardly and toward the injector or magazine so that the edge 30 is farther from the magazine than the base IS. The right end of the base It as viewed in Fig. 3 is provided with an edge over which the weft ends WI and W2 can hang.

The top and bottom edges 30 and 35, respectively, are so located that the weft end of the highest bobbin in the magazine when drawn taut over the lower edge 35 will be spaced below the upper edge 3%. This relationship is shown in Fig. 3 from which it will be apparent that there is a considerable open space 36 at the upper part of the intake mouth 2| above the highest of the weft ends located beyond the injector with reference to the magazine. In certain threading operations of the thread holder it may be convenient to place the weft ends of bobbins freshly inserted into the upper part of the magazine across this open space 36 so that the threads can be drawn into the passage 28 due to the jet of air issuing from the discharge mouth 28.

The hollow member |5 has secured thereto a bafiie or deflector designated generally at 40 formed by front and back walls 4| and 42, respectively, secured in any approved manner to the top H of the member IS. The walls 4| and 42 are spaced from each other to define a thread slot 43 which in effect is a continuation of the thread slot 25. As shown more particularly in Figs. 1 and 3 the bafile or deflector 40 is curved outwardly and downwardly so that its lower end 44 is spaced from the discharge mouth 22. As shown for instance in Figs. 2 and 3 the rear wall 42 has the lower part thereof located slightly farther from the discharge mouth than the lower end of the front wall 4|. The bafiie 4|] is so located that it breaks the force of the jet of air passing through the passage 20 to the right as viewed in Fig. 3 and enables the weft ends to fall over the edge 35 to form an entangled mass as shown for instance at G.

The threading operation is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 7, where it is assumed that a weft end or thread W extends from a bobbin freshly placed in high position in the rear part of the magazine. This thread W will be drawn to the right as viewed in Fig. 1 over the front wall 4| down along the latter as shown by the light line a, Fig. '7. The operator will then slide thread W rearwardly along wall 4| toward the rear wall 42 until the thread enters the lower part of the thread slot 43, as shown in the heavy line b, Fig. 7, and indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5. After the thread has entered the slot 43 a downward force exerted on it by the operator will cause it to slide along the aligned slots 43 and 25 toward the magazine. When the thread is at the edge 39 and is held taut it will still be above the lower edge 35 so that it can be given an additional downward motion which will move it away from and to a position below the upper edge as, thereby permitting it to enter the thread passage 20 without requiring any further manipulation. When the thread W is in passage 20 the jet of air will tend to move it toward rear wall l9 and it will assume the position shown at c in dotted lines, Fig. 7.

If the thread W had corresponded to a bobbin which had been placed in the front part of the magazine the threading operation would be as already described except that when the thread reached the passage 20 the jet of air would tend to blow it against the front wall [8. In either case the jet of air blows the thread against one or the other of the walls 4| or 42 of the bafile or deflector 4G to direct the thread downwardly. Thus, any thread corresponding to group WI will be blown against the front wall 4| and any thread corresponding to group W2 will be blown against the rear wall 42. In both cases the threads will be deflected downwardly so that they will fall on their corresponding parts of the lower edge 35. This is due to the fact that the deflector is curved downwardly as distinguished from the forward curvature of the deflector shown in the aforesaid copending application.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth a simple form of pneumatic thread holder made in such manner that the thread of the highest bobbin in the magazine when held against lower edge 35 will be below the top edge 36. It will also be seen that a space 36 is located between the top weft ends entering the intake mouth 2| and the edge 30 to provide for entry of weft ends from bobbins freshly inserted in the magazine if this method of threading the thread holder is desired. Also, the baffle or deflector 40 is curved downwardly and the walls 4| and 42 are aligned respectively with the groups WI and W2 to direct the threads of these groups downwardly against their respective parts of the lower edge 35. Furthermore, the deflector is provided with a thread slot 43 which is a continuation of the thread slot 25. The lower part of one of the deflector walls, wall 42 as shown herein, is spaced slightly farther from the discharge mouth 22 than the lower part of forward wall 4] to facilitate entry of a thread in the slot 43 when the thread is slid rearwardly along the front wall 4|. While wall 42 has been shown farther from the discharge mouth than wall 4| it will be understood that the relative positions of these walls can be reversed in which event the threading operation will be effected by sliding the thread forwardly along wall 42 toward wall 4 I.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In pneumatic thread holder means for a weft replenishing loom having a magazine to hold vertically arranged reserve bobbins from which weft ends extend, means defining an air and thread passage to receive said weft ends extending generally in a horizontal direction toward and from the magazine and having an intake mouth at the end thereof adjacent to the magazine formed with an upper edge and having a discharge mouth at the end thereof remote from the magazine formed with a lower edge, and an air injector to introduce a jet of compressed air into said intake mouth in a direction toward the discharge mouth to tension the weft ends in the passage, said upper and lower edges being so related to the topmost bobbin in the magazine that the weft end of said topmost bobbin when drawn taut over said edge enters the intake mouth at a point spaced below said upper edge.

2. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 1 wherein said intake mouth is formed with side edges which are inclined from said upper edge downwardly and toward the injector to define a space above the weft ends below said upper edge beyond said injector with reference to the magazine to receive weft ends from bobbins in the magazine.

3. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 1 wherein a deflector is located in the path of said jet of compressed air and beyond said discharge mouth with reference to the intake mouth and extends downwardly and outwardly from said discharge mouth to break the force of said jet of air and enable the weft ends issuing from the discharge mouth to hang down over said lower edge.

6 4. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 3 wherein said deflector is supported from a part of said means above said discharge mouth. 5. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 3 wherein said means and deflector are provided with a continuous thread slot extending lengthwise of said passage and open at the 7 ends thereof through which weft ends may be introduced into said passage.

6. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 5 wherein said deflector has a free lower end spaced from said discharge mouth and said thread slot extends from said upper edge to the lower end of said deflector.

7. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 6 wherein the free lower end of said deflector includes two spaced Walls between which said thread slot extends and one of said walls is spaced farther from the discharge mouth than the other wall to enable a weft end on said other wall to enter said thread slot by horizontal movement when moved toward said one wall of the deflector.

8. In pneumatic thread holder means for a weft replenishing loom having a magazine to hold vertically arranged reserve bobbins from which front and back groups of weft ends extend, means defining an air and thread passage extending generally in a horizontal direction toward and from the magazine intermediate said groups of weft ends to receive the latter, an air injector to introduce a jet of compressed air into said passage between said groups in a direction away from the magazine, and a deflector beyond said passage with reference to the magazine extending downwardly and effective to break the force of the jet of air to enable said groups of weft ends to fall to their respective parts of the lower end of the passage adjacent to the deflector.

9. The pneumatic thread holder means set forth in claim 8 wherein the deflector includes two walls curved downwardly and in the direction of flow of air through said passage, one of said walls being aligned with one of said groups of weft ends and the other wall being aligned with the other group.

10. The pneumatic thread holder set forth in claim 9 wherein the means and deflector are provided with communicating thread slots and the thread slot in the deflector separates said walls.

RAYMOND F. DION.

References Cited in the flle of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,703,898 Payne Mar. 5, 1929 2,207,105 Payne July 9, 1940 2,360,807 Whitin Oct. 17, 1944 

